Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1887-11-23

and crushed him down. Two muscular
hands were at his throat, and before
he could offer any resistance he was
choked senseless.
A short club, loaded with lead, and
known to profession burglars as a
"billy, fell from his grasp. Dark as
it was, his assailant seemed to know
that he had it, and searched round in
the grass till he secured it. Then he
hastily removed his own shoes, and
stole into the house by the front door.
Lyman Drake had risen, at last, to
go, full of supreme anguish of the
thought that he could not see the
sleepy young woman before him for
at least twenty hours more. His back
was to the door; her face was neces-
sarily turned in the same direction; a
l~eave-taking which it would be q
breach of confidence in us to describe
was just about to occur-when Lyman
was startled by the sudden pallor of
Eva's face, and the trembling of her
whole person. She stared straight
over his shoulder. He looked round.
A man stood five feet from him with G
dark-lantern in one hand and a pistol
in the other. A crape-mask, pierced
with eye-holes, covered his face.
"Now, me kids" he said in a hoarse
whisper. "doncher dare ter make eny
noise, or I'll kill yer! Their old cove
upstairs brought in six hundred dol
lars ter night. Gal, yer knows where
ter find it. Get it an bring it ERE,
quick! Eff yer don't Or eff you blows
on me--Ill shoot this ere cove right
'frew der heart. Dye ear? Start!'
The murderous revolver covered
them. What poor Lyman would have
done, he does not know; what might
have happened will never he known.
There was q strong deliverer at hand,
and before he could speak another
word the terrified lovers saw q man en-
ter the room, step softly behind the
burglar and fell him to the floor. He
rolled like a lump OF lead on the car
pet, his pistol exploding and sending a
ball into the ceiling as he fell.
"Don't be afraid" the deliverer said,
kindly, to the young people. II fol-
lowed that brute in here to prevent a
crime. There is another one lying
s~enseless in the yard. Go and wake
the folks; I'll send some people in to
take care of them. Goodnight"
He had started toward the door,
when he heard q subdued scream, and
a pair of arms were thrown round his
neck.
"It's you, Lonny! I know you! You
shall not go ~away!-you must not!"
isis, confound you, let go! l didn't
come to stay"
But she chung the tighter; and now
appeared two apparitions, clothed in
white, at the door; the Judge, with
his face far less rudy than usual, and
a big pistol in each hand, while his
trembling wife held fast by his ample
gown, and looked over his shoulder.
Women, girls, are natural orators,
and Eva on this occasion indicated the
claim of her sex to that distinction.
She rushed from the Captain to her
father, and in quarter of
a minute told him everything
that had happened. Description
halts at the scenes that followed. The
rapture OF the fond, thankful mother
over her long-lost boy; the earnest,
glad welcome of the father; the ex-
PLANTATION of the son, that, with pride
in his heart, and bitterness still reign
ing there against his father, he had
come merely to look at the old home
once more ere he shipped 81 a sailor;
that he had CHANGED to overhear the
plan of the burglars, and had resolved
to prevent the robbery, whatever the
consequences might be.
Meantime, Lyman Drake, observing
that he was q kind of nobody in this
scene, conceived an idea, and promptly
acted on it, which showed him to be o
very level-headed young man. The
ways of the house were somewhat
known to him, and, procuring some
stout cord from the wood-shed, he pro-
ceeded to bind the arms and legs of the
s~enseless burglars. Then he went out
and procured help enough to take them
to the lookup. The State kindly
boarded, clothed, and employed both
of them for the next ten years.
Daylight was not far off when ali this
had been done. The parents dressed